Pricing artwork is never easy, especially when you're just starting over, virtually impossible when you are trying something completely new. I haven't had to think about pricing for over 20 years! It's not like I picked a different subject matter, I picked a style that is the complete polar opposite of my traditional work. There is absolutely no formula for pricing a complete style change.
If you know my gallery work you know that the pricing between my traditional work and my new abstract work is miles apart.
Example:
Abstract 12x12=$120
Traditional Realism 12x12=$1160.
Why the difference?
My gallery work is an established "brand" that took years (dare I say...decades) to establish. Paintings that took hours and hours, weeks, and sometimes months to produce. Not to mention a lifetime of practice, multiple shows, awards, magazine articles, and representation in some of the best galleries out there. What I am doing now is new. It's as if I am an emerging artist all over again! While I am coming to this new style with a set of tools that I wouldn't have had 20 plus years ago it is still relatively new to me, and definitely new to my collector base.
I wanted to price my work so that it is attainable. So it will sell. So I don't die with a studio full of beautiful art! These prices aren't a reflection of quality or value, they are simply a starting point as I travel down this road. Let's face it, if I had set my new abstract work at my established tradition pricing they would most likely not sell. And yes, I do want them to sell! I love what I do, I need to create, but this is also my business.
Will the prices go up? Yes. Over time the prices will go up, as is the usual for any artist. I'm in no rush. For now I am happy to make enough profit to continue to buy more supplies, to develop this style, and to send more art out into the world! Create. Send out into the world. Create more.
If you are an artist reading this, and have ever changed your style (perhaps a better way of saying that would be...added another style to your portfolio) what was your experience with it? I would love to hear from you.
From the Studio
Mickie